Wilderness Defence – Page 22

Fracking In Balcombe: A Community Says No

Update (24/07/13): Cuadrilla Resources are bringing equipment onto the site at Balcombe now and want to start drilling by the weekend.

Update (24/07/13): Cuadrilla Resources are bringing equipment onto the site at Balcombe now and want to start drilling by the weekend. The community is mobilisating to stop them tomorrow (Thurs) from 7am and needs help. See http://greatgasgala.org.uk/ for details.

The sleepy village of Balcombe in West Sussex, in the middle of the Weald valley, has until recently not been a place you would associate with industrial development. The surrounding countryside is among the most picturesque you will see out of the train window on the line between London and Brighton. However, in 2008 Cuadrilla Resources acquired a petroleum exploration and development licence (PEDL 244) for an area of Sussex, including Balcombe, and acquired an adjoining licence a few years later, bringing the total area of Sussex countryside they can exploit to over 270 square miles.

Summary

Fracking threatening Sussex countryside
Cuadrilla have licences for 270 square miles
Planning permission to drill in Balcombe
Targeting layer within Kimmeridge Clay
Analogous to Bakken Shale in North Dakota
Would need thousands of wells to extract oil
Same severe impacts as in US and Australia
Villagers getting organised to resist invasion
Cuadrilla is trying to push ahead regardless
Need permits to start, but could be soon

In January 2010 Cuadrilla applied to West Sussex County Council for planning permission to drill a exploration well, on a site where Conoco previously drilled a well in 1986, without success. Very few people were aware of this application and those that were assumed that it would be a similar story to Conoco, decades earlier. No one had heard of Cuadrilla or fracking and a mention of “stimulation” in the planning application did not mean anything to anyone. There were no objections and three months later permission was granted without any fuss.

The world has changed since the mid-1980s though and whereas Conoco were looking for conventional oil, in a reservoir of permeable rock, Cuadrilla – spurred by sky high energy prices – are prepared to go to much greater lengths to get hydrocarbons out of the ground. Unconventional oil and gas targets much less permeable rocks, with densely packed (usually) horizontal wells and various extreme stimulation techniques, such as hydraulic fracturing. While in Lancashire Cuadrilla are focused on getting gas out of the Bowland Shale, in Sussex they are after so called tight (shale) oil, similar to the Bakken Shale in North Dakota.

If this exploration leads to full scale development at the well-spacing now common in the Bakken, 4 wells per square mile, it could mean 32 wells within the parish of Balcombe and over 300 within 5 miles of the village. Up to 1,200 wells might be drilled in the the whole of Cuadrilla’s licence area. Further west, in the centre of the Weald valley where the formations are deeper, it is possible that gas rather than oil may predominate. Celtique Energie, who have licences across much of West Sussex, are bragging about quantities of gas that would require thousands of wells to extract.

These developments threaten to industrialise the Sussex countryside with well pads, and associated pipelines, compressor stations and processing plants. One only has to look to the US, Canada or Australia what living in the middle of such an oil/gasfield is like. Over 100,000 unconventional wells have been drilled in the US in the last decade, and thousands in Canada and Australia. In parts of the US, drilling is starting to push into the outskirts of cities, as they run out of countryside to frack. See this article Fracking Sussex: The Threat Of Shale Oil & Gas for more details.

It was only following the publicity around Cuadrilla’s misfortunes in Lancashire (breaking their first test well with an earthquake they caused) that Balcombe residents became aware of what was planned, and a public meeting was called in the village hall in January 2012. Cuadrilla managed to invite themselves to the meeting and came in will their PR team to smooth things over. After they had been grilled for several hours by hundreds of angry locals, they retreated to lick their wounds. However with their temporary planning permission due to expire in September this year, they are now keen to proceed as soon as possible.

Recently Cuadrilla returned to Balcombe and held a “consultation”, to explain their plans. Wary of their previously reception they booked a small hall for the afternoon that could only hold a few people at a time, and packed it with executives. The village responded, coating the area in anti-fracking signs, organising a kids anti-fracking picnic and mounting a continuous protest outside the venue. As usual Cuadrilla were less than convincing, with a Cuadrilla executive even caught on tape admitting that everything they said sounded like “utter fucking bullshit”.

Meanwhile security guards, from the third worst company in the world G4S, have been present at the site 24 hours a day for several weeks. Last week a small drilling rig arrived on site to drill a water monitoring well, in preparation for the main event. In response the locals begain organising a Rigwatch outside the site entrance, to keep track of what Cuadrilla are up to. On Monday a tea party was held outside to site, to protest Cuadrilla’s presence.

Picnic at Lower Stumble. July 2013

Cuadrilla have still not cleared all the hurdles they need to in order to commence drilling, however. They require mining waste and radioactive substances permits in order to dispose of the toxic and radioactive waste the drilling will generate. In Lancashire the Environment Agency waved the requirement for a permit allowing Cuadrilla to dump radioactive sludge from their Preece Hall site into the Manchester Ship Canal, but there is no information about any plans for where this waste would go. The Environment Agency have launched a month long consultation on the permits, potentially delaying drilling into July.

Regardless of these legal issues, Cuadrilla are faced with having to try to push through the drilling despite the near unanimous opposition of the local community. Across Sussex people are equally unkeen on the threatened industrialisation of the county. In Australia, where three gas companies have already been forced out of New South Wales, community opposition has been highly effective. The industry is suggesting blackmailing communities with the threat of withholding public services, or bribing them with cash payments, to acquiesce to the destruction of their environments. They are clearly worried by the mounting opposition.

You can object to Cuadrilla’s “Mining Waste” application here…

You can object to Cuadrilla’s “Radioactive Wastes” application here…

Indian tribe blocks Pan-American Highway to protest land invasion

23 July 2013 Cross posted from Survival

23 July 2013 Cross posted from Survival

A key South American highway connecting Paraguay and Bolivia is being blocked by an Indian tribe angry at the destruction of their rapidly-shrinking island of forest.

Ayoreo Indians today blocked the Trans-Chaco Highway, which forms part of the Pan-American Highway, and have vowed to maintain their protest until outsiders who have occupied their land are removed.

The Indians are angry about the illegal invasion of their land by two Paraguayan farmers, in an area to which the Ayoreo secured official land title 16 years ago.

The farmers and their workers have erected cattle fences and bulldozed wide tracks, and claim that the land belongs to them. They were guarded by police, to prevent any attempt on the Ayoreos’ part to stop the work.

The land is titled to the Ayoreo, but the farmers have erected cattle fences and bulldozed wide tracks.

Although most members of the Ayoreo tribe are contacted, some groups are known to remain uncontacted in the forest in the area now under threat.

The Ayoreo have said to Survival International, ‘We don’t want any outsiders in our territory – it’s dangerous for us, and dangerous for our relatives in the forest. We’ll stay here [on the road] until all the outsiders leave our land.’

Uncontacted ChacoA special report from the Paraguayan Chaco. Recently contacted Ayoreo Indians are worried for the future of their uncontacted relatives.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The Ayoreo are extremely angry that one of the few parts of their territory that they had managed to secure is now being invaded by outsiders, with the connivance of the local police. It seems like the authorities in Paraguay favor the rich and powerful over people like the Ayoreo, who simply try to live in peace on their own land.’

Michigan Activists Locking Down to Halt Tar Sands Pipeline Construction

From MI-CATS Press Release:

Monday, July 22nd, 2013

From MI-CATS Press Release:

Monday, July 22nd, 2013

This morning Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands (MI-CATS) is taking direct action near Stockbridge `to halt construction of the Tar Sands pipeline 6B expansion project of Canadian corporation Enbridge. Over 40 Michiganders have come to oppose the infamous corporation’s flagrant expansion of the very same pipeline that spilled out into the Kalamazoo River only three years ago. Enbridge claims they have restored the river after a spill is no excuse to expand the pipeline, expanding the pipeline increases the risk for everyone.

Residents are currently halting Enbridge’s construction plans by putting their bodies on the line in an act of non violent civil disobedience against Enbridge’s plans. At least 6 people have been arrested so far as police attempt to shut down the protest. 4 people are currently locked down to construction equipment and refusing to move. Police have arrested their medical support team and threaten to arrest anyone who tries to approach them.

These measures come after the exhaustion of every method within the law, as it has has become apparent from our experiences all throughout the state. Our state government is ready to set aside its own laws and legal processes to accommodate this foreign corporation.

Enbridge itself has consistently demonstrated that their sole priority is their own bottom line, not the health and safety of the people of Michigan, our ecosystem, and even their own workers.

Michigan Coalition Against Tar Sands seeks to unite the people of Michigan toward the common goal of stopping all transportation of tar sands oil in the state and advocating against the production and transportation of tar sands everywhere. We work in solidarity with the global movement against harsh fossil fuel extractive practices.

According to one person who is participating in this action “This pipeline is a disaster for Michigan’s water and the global climate. I’m blockading this pipeline to prevent the next spill because I care about Michigan’s air and water. People all over the world are taking action in their own community this Fearless Summer. We need to leave all fossil fuels in the ground.” – William Lawrence of East Lansing

We will not allow Canadian tar sands to pass through our backyards. We will no longer allow the same Canadian corporation responsible for the tar sands which still lie at the bottom of our Kalamazoo River to place all of us at risk. We are taking this action to protect from another spill and to ensure a livable planet for generations to come.

Location of the action is the Enbridge 6B easement off of Grimes west of M-52 near Stockbridge, MI. Look for the orange construction signs and the police presence. ‪#‎micatsact‬. Updates on the action will continue, as events unfold.

This is MI-CATS’ second action at the Enbridge 6B pipeline this summer; in the first an activist climbed inside the Enbridge 6B pipe. Follow @MichiganCats and @efjournal on twitter for updates

Mapuche, Human Rights Activists Slam Argentina’s Chevron Deal

18 July 2013 The Argentine government’s long-sought deal with Chevron Corp.

18 July 2013 The Argentine government’s long-sought deal with Chevron Corp. to exploit shale oil reserves in Patagonia was strongly criticized Wednesday by Mapuche Indians, human rights activists, environmentalists and leftists who called it a sellout to the U.S. that could drain and pollute the nation’s resources.

The $1.5 billion joint venture with Chevron was made public in a brief announcement by the state-owned YPF oil company Tuesday night. President Cristina Fernandez said the deal will promote energy independence for Argentina, but many of her one-time allies warned that it would do the opposite.

“It’s an irresponsibility and a lack of consciousness that the national government hands over these resources to Chevron,” said Nilo Cayuqueo, who leads a Mapuche community in Neuquen province, where the Vaca Muerta shale oil basin is. “We’re talking about money here, nothing else. They don’t talk about the environment, or of future generations.”

Mapuches say the land belongs to them and contend they weren’t consulted about the deal in violation of international treaties covering indigenous peoples. YPF denied that claim Tuesday.

Adolfo Perez Esquivel, an Argentine rights activist awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980, said the deal would hurt the country.

“We Argentines,” he said, “are giving our resources to the United States and converting YPF into a highly polluting company that will use this method known as fracking,” which requires millions of gallons of fresh water pumped at high pressure to extract oil and natural gas from otherwise unproductive wells deep underground in shale deposits.

Perez Esquivel said he would file suit demanding to see environmental impact studies and try to block the oil development. But he said he had little hope of success since the court system recently overturned an injunction seizing any Chevron profits in Argentina if the company didn’t pay a $19 billion damage judgment won by plaintiffs in Ecuador, where the Texaco oil company since bought by Chevron was judged to have contaminated parts of the Amazon.

The deal reached with Chevron is the biggest foreign investment that Argentina has attracted since expropriating YPF from control of the Spanish company Grupo Repsol last year. Repsol is demanding $10 billion in compensation and threatens to sue any oil company that takes over the wells.

Protest call out! Vedanta AGM, 1st August, London.

1st August, 2pm. The London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, W1K 6JP.

Please spread the word and join us for this year's Vedanta AGM demo (flyer attached). Affinity group actions/street theatre/banners etc encouraged.

1st August, 2pm. The London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square, W1K 6JP.

Please spread the word and join us for this year's Vedanta AGM demo (flyer attached). Affinity group actions/street theatre/banners etc encouraged. This will be an international day of action and is usually well covered in Indian and UK newspapers.

We will bring the defiant energy of the Dongria Kond tribe to London, as they fight the final stages of their 10 years battle for survival against Vedanta’s planned mega mine.

Parallel demonstrations are already planned in Odisha and Delhi in India on this international day of action.

Bring drums, placards, banners and lots of energy!

JOIN OUR GRASSROOTS SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT TO STOP THIS KILLER CORPORATE!

Vedanta Resources is a FTSE 100 British-Indian mining company guilty of thousands of deaths, environmental devastation, anti union action, corruption and disdain for life on earth. They have become one of the most hated and contentious companies in the world.

In Odisha, India they are trying to mine a mountain inhabited by an ancient tribe – the Dongria Kond – who have successfully fought them off for more than 10 years. Their fight is in its final stages, and we need to mobilise all our energy to ensure Vedanta is kicked out of the Niyamgiri mountains forever.

Vedanta is now diversifying into oil and gas, and expanding into Africa, Sri Lanka and possibly even the Arctic. They currently operate in Zambia, South Africa, Liberia, Namibia, Australia, Sri Lanka, and across India.

Coverage of last year's AGM demo in the Guardian newspaper

Since last year’s AGM Vedanta are guilty of a major toxic gas leak affecting thousands of people at their Sterlite subsidiary copper smelter in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. At their Jharsuguda Aluminium complex they released fly ash over farmland polluting rivers and villages. In Zambia they tried to fire 2000 workers from their Konkola Copper mines and smelter before being stopped by the Zambian Government. One Zambian employee was shot dead at the plant.

At Niyamgiri, Odisha, Vedanta with it’s cronies in the Odisha state government are trying to force their mega bauxite mine through at any cost. They are using police harassment, manipulation, threats and distortion of the legal system to prevent the Dongria Kond from voting against the project in the coming weeks. Forces have even opened fire on women and children threatening them not to oppose the mine. But the Dongria are stronger than ever and prepared to fight tooth and nail to save their mountain in these final stages.

Vedanta are supported by the British government, as well as our banks, pension funds and financial institutions. Vedanta is 64.9% owned by CEO Anil Agarwal and his family via various tax havens. Top shareholders include Standard Life, Blackrock inc. and JP Morgan – the same financiers of South African miner Lonmin who shot and killed 34 protesting mine workers in August 2012.

Last year's AGM demo

Foil Vedanta is a solidarity movement working directly with those affected by Vedanta in India and elsewhere. We are currently trying to get Vedanta de-listed from the London Stock Exchange.

Please join activists who will be rallying in Odisha, Goa and Delhi on 1^st August as part of an international day of action to stop this killer corporate and it’s supporters.

We will be rallying outside Vedanta’s Annual General Meeting in solidarity with the Dongria Kond tribe of Odisha.

Tanks Move in Around Earth’s Most Threatened Tribe

Brazil’s military has moved in to stop illegal logging around the land of Earth’s most threatened tribe.

Cross Posted from S

Brazil’s military has moved in to stop illegal logging around the land of Earth’s most threatened tribe.

Cross Posted from Survival International

Survival International has received reports that Brazil’s military has launched a major ground operation against illegal logging around the land of the Awá, Earth’s most threatened tribe.

Hundreds of soldiers, police officers and Environment Ministry special agents have flooded the area, backed up with tanks, helicopters and close to a hundred other vehicles, to halt the illegal deforestation which has already destroyed more than 30% of one of the Awá’s indigenous territories.

Since the operation reportedly started at the end of June, 2013, at least eight saw mills have been closed and other machinery has been confiscated and destroyed.

Little Butterfly, an Awá girl. The Awá have pleaded for all illegal invaders to be evicted from their forest.

The operation comes at a critical time for the Awá, one of the last nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes in the Brazilian Amazon, who are at risk of extinction if the destruction of their forest is not stopped as a matter of urgency.

But while the operation is making it more difficult for loggers to enter Awá territory and remove the valuable timber, the forces have not moved onto the Awá’s land itself – where illegal logging is taking place at an alarming rate and where quick action is crucial.

Amiri Awá told Survival, ‘The invaders must be made to leave our forest. We don’t want our forest to disappear. The loggers have already destroyed many areas.’

Tanks, helicopters and close to a hundred vehicles have been deployed to protect the forest.

Tens of thousands of people worldwide, including many celebrities, have joined Survival International’s campaign urging the Brazilian government to send forces into the Awá’s territories to evict the illegal invaders, stop the destruction of the Awá’s forest, prosecute the illegal loggers and prevent them from re-entering the area.

Survival’s Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Brazil has taken a promising first step towards saving the world’s most threatened tribe, and it’s thanks to the many thousands of Awá supporters worldwide. This is proof that public opinion can effect change. However, the battle is not yet won: the authorities must not stop until all illegal invaders are gone.’

Honduran Army Kills Indigenous Leader of COPINH Who Resisted Dam in Rio Blanco

16 July 2013 On Monday July 15th, while the Lenca community of Rio Blanco, in Honduras, marked 106 days of resistance to the building of Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam, the Army indiscriminately shot at the demonstrators killing one of the l

Tomas was a Lenca indigenous leader who was part of his community’s Indigenous and Auxiliary Council and of the National Council of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).

The Honduran activist was shot dead while he was walking with other community members to the project’s facilities owned by Desa and Sinohydro companies, while his son, who was seriously injured by a high-calibre bullet, is in hospital and his life is in danger, Berta Caceres, leader of COPINH, told Real World Radio.

Berta described the act as “a desperate and criminal reaction” by the companies that want to build a dam on River Gualcaeque, seriously affecting the communities living there. The Honduran army supports the companies, said Berta, and they even pay for the transportation and maintenance of troops deployed by the Honduran government in Tegucigalpa in Rio Blanco.

On Monday night, COPINH reported of more military troops being deployed in Zacapa, Santa Barbara, and there were fears of new shootings against civilians during the wake of the murdered indigenous leader.

“The community is outraged. We are in great sorrow, also because we believe we have to continue our struggle”, said Berta during a phone interview. “As the elections approach (in November) they want to teach COPINH a lesson”, she explained and said the community decided to continue occupying the access to the dam.

A few hours after the incidents, COPINH had reported that since Friday 12, top executives of the company Desarrollo Energético Sociedad Anónima (DESA)- which is in charge of the project together with the original group Sinohydro – travelled to meet with local hitmen, who are responsible for direct threats against several members of the indigenous council, including Tomas Garcia.

Before they started shooting at civilians, the military made no attempt to talk with the activists, said Berta.

The leader of COPINH was illegally arrested in May and submitted to a trial for purportedly having an illegal weapon, something that the court could not prove and the case was finally dismissed.

The leader highlighted that in the new cases of repression against residents of the community of Rio Blanco, we urgently need international solidarity to report the civic and military authorities and both companies for murder.

“We are aware that we are confronted with an impunity strategy in a context that seems to be worsening”, said Berta. She said the communities’ determination to defend their territory is strengthened in these situations of state and private violence.

In fact, river Gualcarque is considered an essential part of the Lenca spirituality and the communities are confronting the business projects as a tribute to their culture’s symbolic figure: Lempira.

“We continue fighting, we are not afraid, we will not be prey to fear and we will continue this peaceful but strong battle for life”, she concluded.

Daniel McGowan Loses Lawsuit Against Bureau Of Prisons

16 Jult 2013 A federal court has dismissed an environmental activist’s claims against the U.S.

16 Jult 2013 A federal court has dismissed an environmental activist’s claims against the U.S. Bureau of Prisons over a restrictive prison wing he was housed in, but a lawsuit filed by other prisoners against the government over its restrictive communication management units continues.

Daniel McGowan, 39, served seven years in federal prison for arson connected with the Earth Liberation Front, four of them in the secretive communication management units, or CMUs, dubbed “Little Guantanamo” by critics.

Along with dozens of other mostly Muslim inmates, McGowan’s phone calls with the outside world and physical contact with his family were severely limited. Even after he was released to a halfway house, McGowan was briefly tossed back into prison this year for writing a Huffington Post blog entry detailing his case.

McGowan’s lawyers at the Center for Constitutional Rights had argued that his re-jailing proved he was still at risk for re-incarceration in the CMUs. But the judge overseeing the lawsuit disagreed, citing a 1990s-era law that severely restricts the rights of federal prisoners to challenge cruel and unusual punishment.

McGowan’s lawyers at the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement that they were “deeply disappointed” by Senior Judge Barbara J. Rothstein’s decision, but that they would push on with the larger lawsuit.

Residents raise sinkhole warning signs over Shell tunnel

Yesterday (14th July), local residents and supporters raised signs on Sruwaddacon estuary, warning of the sinkholes that continue to appear over Shell's tunnel.

Yesterday (14th July), local residents and supporters raised signs on Sruwaddacon estuary, warning of the sinkholes that continue to appear over Shell's tunnel. Residents first noticed the sinkholes beginning to appear in the special area of conservation on the 20th May and numerous sinkholes have appeared along the tunnel route since then.

The warning signs which read "Danger Sinkholes: Keep Back" were erected in order to warn users of the estuary of presence of the sinkhole, which have been up to 8 foot deep. Residents were forced to put up the warning signs after both Mayo County Council and the Department of Energy & Natural Resources, despite being contacted, have failed to take any action.

The National Parks & Wildlife Service are also believed not to have investigated thus far the possible damage that may be occurring to the benthic life in the estuary, despite the area being both a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area.

Shell to Sea spokesperson Terence Conway stated "When Shell experts were giving evidence in the oral hearing, there wasn't a word about sinkholes and the bubbling up of possible contaminated material to the surface of the special area of conservation".[1]

Shell have previously sent up to 10 workers with shovels out on the estuary in a failed attempt to fill in the sinkholes.

Mr Conway continued "We can currently follow the path of the tunnel by the trail of sinkholes that have appeared on the strand. Failure to regulate has caused alot of suffering in Ireland, yet the Government are still allowing Shell to do whatever they want. The sinkholes are further proof that the Government continues to abandon their responsibility to regulate Shell."

Links

[1] YouTube Video: What's happening in Shell's Tunnel? – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hvz2l27Ooc

[2] Reports of sinkholes above Corrib tunnel investigated
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/reports-of-sinkholes-abo…54717

[3] Midwest Radio Clip about third sink-hole in Sruwaddacon estuary
http://www.shelltosea.com/content/midwest-radio-clip-ab…tuary

Bubbling in the water in the foreground while people raise warning signs in the background of photo

New Tree Sit in Tasmanian Old Growth

15th July Anti-forestry activists have erected a tree sit to halt logging in Tasmania’s far south.

Huon Valley Environment Centre’s Jenny Weber says the wood from the old growth is destined for timber processor Ta Ann Tasmania.

”The tree sit structure is attached to the logging machines, halting them from continuing logging today,” Ms Weber said.

The protest again involves members of the Australian Student Environment Network who also shut down Ta Ann’s Smithton mill on Friday.

The Smithton action was condemned by peak environment groups who negotiated the forestry peace deal which will lead to 504,000 hectares of forests being protected.

However, it is up to the Legislative Council to approve a protection order for the future reserves. MLCs will make their decision after considering how effective the legislation has been, including the impact of ongoing protests on Tasmania’s wood markets.

Ta Ann Tasmania has repeatedly denied using wood from old-growth forests.